constitutional obligation to obey it.

The Hon. Horace Mann, one of Massachusetts' most honored sons, in
his able speech on this subject in Congress, 1851, said:--"In view
of the great principles of civil liberty, out of which the
Constitution grew, and which it was designed to secure, my own
opinion is that this law cannot be fairly and legitimately supported
on constitutional grounds. Having formed this opinion with careful
deliberation, I am bound to speak from it and to act from it. I have
read every argument and every article in defence of the law, from
whatever source emanating. Nay, I have been more anxious to read the
arguments made in its favor, than the arguments against it; and I
think I have seen a sound legal answer to all the former." * * *
"It is a law that might be held constitutional by a bench of
slaveholders, whose _pecuniary interests_ connect them directly with
slavery; or by those who have surrendered themselves to a
pro-slavery policy from _political hopes_. But if we gather the
opinions of unbiassed and disinterested men, of those who have no
_money_ to make, and no _office_ to hope for, through the triumph of
this law, then I think the preponderance of opinion is decidedly
against its constitutionality. It is a fact universally known, that
gentlemen who have occupied and adorned the highest judicial
stations in their respective States, together with many of the
ablest lawyers in the whole country, have expressed opinions against
the constitutionality of this law." * * * "When I am called upon to
support such a law as this, while it lasts, or to desist from
opposing it in all constitutional ways, my response is, Repeal the
law! that I may no longer be called upon to support it. I demand it,
because it is a law which conflicts with the Constitution of the
country, and with all the judicial interpretations of that